


Very Nicely Indeed

by Lbilover



Category: The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 04:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9802898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lbilover/pseuds/Lbilover
Summary: Gandalf wonders if he should look elsewhere for his burglar.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for B2MeM 2013

_"Not the man who used to make such particularly excellent fireworks! I remember those! Old Took used to have them on Midsummer's Eve. Splendid! They used to go up like great lilies and snapdragons and laburnums of fire and hang in the twilight all evening."_

~*~

‘Good morning! We don’t want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water.’

Staring at the hobbit who was sorting through letters and studiously ignoring him, Gandalf almost concluded that he had made a mistake. And that would be a most unusual admission for him to make, for he was not in the habit of second-guessing himself. Hobbits were, as he'd long ago realised, full of surprises, but generally of the good sort, the sort that made a wizard glad he'd taken up the study of them in the first place.

However, Mr. Bilbo Baggins was turning out not to be a good sort of surprise at all. Quite the reverse in fact. Prosy, pompous, hidebound, staid and self-satisfied: Gandalf could not think of a flattering adjective to use to describe Mr. Baggins, of whom he'd had such high hopes. 

Perhaps, he thought grimly, perhaps he should look elsewhere for his burglar. He could find no least trace of Belladonna Took in her son. Time and comfortable living had squeezed it out, he supposed, like the last drops wrung from a wet rag.

'To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took's son, as if I was selling buttons at the door,' he said.

And then, as Gandalf was about to take his leave, something rather remarkable happened. Mr. Baggins's brown eyes widened with wonder, and he launched into a speech that proved dear Belladonna had bequeathed more to her only child than a cleft chin and decided eyebrows. By the time Bilbo Baggins came to a breathless halt, 'I beg your pardon, but I had no idea you were still in business,' Gandalf knew he'd been right all along. Mr. Baggins would do nicely, very nicely indeed.


End file.
